LOST PINES, Texas—One person told credit unions gathered here that the most successful of CUs are those that have not just embraced change but shown a willingness to “disrupt themselves,” especially in a world when consumers are interacting with all the disruption around them.
Jim Marous, co-publisher of the Financial Brand, told Catalyst Corporate’s Strategic Summit that he has been in the financial services business for his entire career, and “What’s interesting to me over that close to 50 years is that while everything else has changed, what has stayed the same is we continue to be in the business of helping to solve the challenges of our customers, be they consumers, be they small businesses or commercial clients. Our job is to make banking better for the people we serve.”
Marous readily acknowledged that is easier said than done, noting that “change has never happened this fast and will never happen this slowly again. But there’s a big elephant in the room. There’s a lot of challenges from legislation and regulation to compliance to the consumer themselves who are moving faster than ever before and expecting more.”
Can’t Be Who You Were
All of that, according to Marous, is “actually an opportunity.”
“But the one challenge that I give each and every one of you is you can’t be the same person you were last year or the year before or the year before,” he said. “…Consumer expectations are changing so fast. There was a long period until about maybe five years ago when we were ahead of the consumer. We had the ability to dictate what products they had, what services they had, how we deliver them and how they use them. But consumers are now being influenced by everything around them.”
